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FrozenGate by Avery

Flexdrive gets weak?

Spyderz20x6

Spyderz20x6

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Has anyone else noticed that the flexdrive gets weak when the batteries are almost dead? I am using 3 AAAs and the whole pack is about 3 volts now, and it won't even sting my skin, and it barely draws smoke from electrical tape :o
Has anyone else noticed this?
 





yeah I've noticed it with my Dorcy blu rays. I was going to post that your flexdrive was getting weak b/c your batteries were low, but you already posted it :)
 
I thought Flexdrives were supposed to not sag as the voltage decreased!

How quickly does the power drop? Is it as bad as with a New Wish green laser, where it will significantly decrease in less than a minute?

-Mark
 
Well, I believe its cutoff is near 2.5V, and as others have seen, it tends to go "pulsed" when it reaches the threshold voltage (its really just turning off as the battery voltage dips below voltage and back on as the voltage rises back up after the load is disconnected). That is probably what is going on. These aren't like mine where the power gradually decreases as the battery voltage drops below the "dropout voltage", these are either ON or OFF.

I'm assuming that you guys are measuring your batteries when the laser is not on (ie, no load)? Because, when a load is put onto a battery, the voltage will dip... depending on how much "juice" is left in the battery, that dip can be huge. So, what's probably happening is that with no load, the batteries voltages are fine, but as soon as you turn on the laser, that load causes the voltage to drop very close to the threshold for the lavadrive.
 
Besides what rkcstr said, the flexdrive is one hungy animal! I personally prefer rkcstr's driver, as a matter of preference, because I'm big when it comes to battery power. rkcstr's driver takes it's ~ 2.5v for regulation and has the sufficient battery power because there's no booster. So it draws less energy from a larger source. The flexdrive draws much more energy from a much smaller source. But of coarse the advantage is smaller hosts. I personally don't mind larger hosts...plus it last a LONG LONG time on a single charge!
 
Ace82 said:
Besides what rkcstr said, the flexdrive is one hungy animal!  I personally prefer rkcstr's driver, as a matter of preference, because I'm big when it comes to battery power.  rkcstr's driver takes it's ~ 2.5v for regulation and has the sufficient battery power because there's no booster.  So it draws less energy from a larger source.  The flexdrive draws much more energy from a much smaller source.  But of coarse the advantage is smaller hosts.  I personally don't mind larger hosts...plus it last a LONG LONG time on a single charge!
Click to expand...
Ya. I always use Rckstr drivers when the host allows me too :)
Flexdrives are great too, though.
 
sk8er4514 said:
yeah I've noticed it with my Dorcy blu rays. I was going to post that your flexdrive was getting weak b/c your batteries were low, but you already posted it :)
Click to expand...
Have you also noticed that when you turn it on, it is sometimes VERY dim, kinda like a dead LD?
Or is this just my diode? It works great with fresh batteries...
 
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